Germany used to be extremely careful about where it exported its weapons. In recent years, however, Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown a preference for sending high-tech armaments abroad rather than German soldierseven if that means doing business with questionable regimes.

German high-tech weapons are a hot commodity among Arab potentates and other autocrats. They havent failed to notice that the coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkels center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) has steadily relaxed Germany's otherwise restrictive arms export policy.

The chancellor points out that her foreign policy is committed to the values of democracy and human rights. And yet she permits weapons shipmentsin the name of stabilityto unsavory regimes whose human rights records are often appalling.

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